1. Field
The present disclosure relates to data recovery and, in particular, to recovery systems and methods for a computer network having multiple client devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computers have become an integral part of business operations such that many banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms, financial service providers, and a variety of other businesses rely on computer networks to store, manipulate, and display information that is constantly subject to change. Oftentimes, the success or failure of an important transaction may turn on the availability of information that is both accurate and current. Accordingly, businesses worldwide recognize the commercial value of their data and seek reliable, cost-effective ways to protect the information stored on their computer networks.
As can be appreciated, serious errors or system failures, such as a hard drive crash or motherboard replacement, can be catastrophic if computer systems and their data is not protected. To protect their data, some administrators create a disc image in a format defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (hereinafter referred to as an “ISO image”) that contains the entire system kernel and device drivers for a specific client computing device having a unique set of hardware and software settings. In the case of a disaster, this ISO image can be loaded, booted and used to recover or rebuild the particular failed system by reinstalling the operating system and device drivers.
Each ISO image, however, is specific to a client device and can represent a rather large image. For instance, in a LINUX environment, such images can be on the order of a gigabyte (GB). Thus, in business enterprises having hundreds or thousands of client devices, the resources needed to store and update the ISO images for all the client devices can be extensive and costly.